Monday Funday Photo of the Week: Unique New Year’s Traditions

This collection of Monday Funday Photos of the week puts a geographic spin on New Year’s celebrations as we track down some of the most interesting traditions across the globe. For Americans, New Year’s is the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar: January 1. There are often fireworks at midnight to celebrate the new year. In the southern part of the United States, black-eyed peas are thought to bring luck and prosperity for the new year, greens (usually collards) bring wealth, and pork is served because pigs root forward, the same direction as time moves (National Geographic Kids).

Everywhere around the country, champagne toasts mark the occasion with a clinking of glasses. Throughout the rest of the world, however, New Year’s is celebrated very differently. Join me for a photo journey to lands far and wide as people all over the world countdown to a fresh start!

Salvador: “Torito Pinto”: a New Year’s event where people get an adrenaline rush from dressing in wet clothes and chasing people with fireworks on their heads.

The people of Bhaktapur celebrate New Year’s Eve by drawing a carriage manually through the main Durbar (a historical court in India). The event includes a massive amount of team work, lots of laughter, and delighted spectators.

Romania: In accordance with an ancient custom, men dress in real bear
skin and dance in the hopes of improving the year to come on New Year’s
Eve.

Bangladesh: During the Bangla New Year celebration, a massive horse race draws thousands of people.

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